Waltham School District is located in Waltham, Massachusetts. There are 10 schools in the district: seven elementary,
two middle schools and one high school. Total enrollment in the district is 4825 students. About 64% of the students
are White, 19.5% Hispanic, 7.1% Asian, 9.8% African American, and 0.1% Native American. About 24% of the students are
eligible for free or reduced price lunch and 5.9% have limited English proficiency. In 2003, the average number of
students per computer was 16. Also in 2003, the two middle schools had a total of 376 students in 6th grade, 364 students
in 7th, and 379 students in 8th grade.

The
Middle School Mathematics Curriculum

In
1995 the curriculum director for mathematics started a partnership with
Educational Development Center in Newton, MA. As part of a Local Systemic
Change grant for grades K–12, mathematics teachers in the district looked
at curricula based on the NCTM Standards during the 1997–1998 school
year. Teachers took lessons from the curricula, tried them in the classroom,
and later discussed with each other how these lessons worked. At the end of
that school year, after trying three different curricula, the district chose
MathScape.

Strategy
for Implementation

In
the 1998–1999 school year, schools began implementing MathScape. That
year, they used two curriculum units from MathScape, in each of the three
grades. The next year they used two or three more units in each grade. In the
2000–2001 school year they completed the process, implementing all seven
MathScape units in each grade.

Principals
and parents were invited to some of the workshops that teachers had when they
were looking at different curricula. In that way, parents had the opportunity
to see the teachers as learners, and to be aware of the fact that they too were
just getting to know these curricula. At first, parents were a little skeptical
about the changes in curriculum, but after seeing the quality of the work the
teachers were doing, they felt good that the teachers were having quality
professional development and that the things that their children would be doing
were of high level. Once the curriculum had been chosen and was being
implemented in 1999–2000 the schools had workshops for parents that had
very positive results.

Teachers
had continuous support and professional development from EDC. Experienced
teachers trained teachers on each one of the MathScape units. In some cases,
they had the opportunity to work with the developers of the curriculum. New
teachers have taken summer workshops at the MathScape center.

Timeline

1998-1999

1999-2000

2000-2001

6th
grade

Partial implementation

Partial implementation

Full implementation

7th
grade

Partial implementation

Partial implementation

Full implementation

8th
grade

Partial implementation

Partial implementation

Full implementation

Eighth
Grade Mathematics Achievement

Massachusetts
Comprehensive Assessment System

Results
for Waltham School District

(State
averages in parentheses)

% Advanced

% Proficient

% Needs Improvement

% Failing

Number of students

Scaled Scores

1998

6 (8)

18 (23)

29 (26)

47 (42)

385

224

1999

5 (6)

18 (22)

37 (31)

41 (40)

400

225

2000

8 (10)

18 (24)

28 (27)

46 (39)

365

225

2001

7 (11)

26 (23)

36 (34)

30 (31)

359

232

2002

6 (11)

18 (23)

37 (33)

39 (33)

347

228

2003

6 (12)

21 (25)

42 (30)

31 (33)

380

NA

Keys
to Success

Extensive training provided by the school district.

Workshops provided opportunities for teachers to get
together, particularly the 6th grade teachers who are scattered
through the district.

Affording teachers the opportunity to talk to each
other about mathematics.

Obstacles

Some teachers are very uncomfortable giving up the
skill-based kind of teaching, and they don’t see the value of skills
being embedded in the lessons.

Sometimes there is not enough time to allow all kids to
progress at their own pace.

Acknowledgement:The Show-Me Center is indebted to Eileen
Herlihy for assistance in developing this
story. Ms. Herlihy is the district’s curriculum director for mathematics.